The Mission Cincinnati Blog
Preparing for Baptism with Rev. Mike
A word to families preparing for Holy Baptism
If your family is preparing for a baptism in the coming weeks (or years), you may have questions about what we believe is actually happening at the font. That is a good and important question, and here are a few of my thoughts.
Let me share how I think about baptism, starting from where I came from theologically, and ending with what Anglicanism confesses.
Baptism as Covenant Sign
My background is in Reformed Presbyterian theology, and whatever else I have learned since, that tradition gave me a solid foundation: baptism is the sign and seal of the new covenant. This idea is not invented by Presbyterians. Paul draws a direct line between baptism and circumcision in Colossians 2:11-12, describing Christian baptism as a "circumcision made without hands."
Circumcision, whatever else it was, was the sign and seal of the old covenant. Baptism, whatever else it is, is the sign and seal of the new. Circumcision and baptism are full of rich theological meaning, but whatever else they mean it is no less than a sign and seal of the covenant. And in every meaningful way, the new covenant is better and broader than the old. Circumcision was restricted to males. Baptism is not. The old covenant was primarily aimed at Israel; the new covenant is explicitly aimed at the nations. The old covenant required that infants receive the covenant sign. The new covenant, if it is truly more inclusive than the old, cannot offer less.
Why We Baptize Children
This is where many people push back, so let me be direct about the reasoning.
When God threatened Moses for failing to circumcise his son (Exodus 4:24-26), the point was stark: withholding the covenant sign from a child of the covenant was a serious offense. The covenant community was not a community you aged into. You were born into it, and the sign marked that reality.
When we read Acts, we see this same priority in the early church. The spiritual head of a household comes to faith, and the household is baptized. Luke does not pause to confirm that every family member made an individual profession before the water was applied. The household was the unit of covenant inclusion. Children were part of that.
There is also a historical case worth mentioning. There is good early Christian evidence of parents baptizing their children, particularly among Jewish converts who understood covenant membership as something extended to one's whole family. That this practice is never corrected in Paul's letters is not nothing. For someone who wrote extensively about nearly every other contested practice in the early church, the silence on infant baptism is, as has been said, a “screaming silence.”
The Passover is my favorite analogy here. When God instituted the Passover in Exodus, there is no instruction to seat the children at a separate table until they were old enough to understand the theological significance of the lamb. Children of Israel were at the table. Children of the covenant community belonged to the covenant community, and were treated as such. Likewise, whether you’ve baptized your children yet or not, you bring them with you to church. You treat them as if they are Christians in every way and that includes the sign of the covenant.
The Element and Form
Water is the element of baptism, applied in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That Trinitarian formula is what makes a baptism valid. The mode is a secondary question, whether immersion, pouring, or sprinkling. The errors in baptism we actually find in the New Testament were not failures of mode. They were failures of form: people who were baptized without the name of Jesus, or with John's baptism only. It is the name invoked, not the amount of water used, that matters.
I was myself baptized by sprinkling as an infant, and sprinkling or pouring is my own preference and practice. But I have no theological objection to immersion, and I will gladly accommodate it when it is meaningful to someone. One of the most beautiful services I have ever presided over included, in a single ceremony, the sprinkling of an infant, the immersion of a middle-schooler raised in the faith, and the immersion of an adult convert. Every possible instance of baptism was celebrated together: paedobaptism, the baptism of a covenant child coming into their own faith, and the baptism of a new believer. It was a gift.
What Baptism Does
Article 27 of the Thirty-Nine Articles describes baptism as a sign of profession and a mark that distinguishes Christians from the unbaptized. But it goes further: baptism is a visible sign, seal, and promise of the whole scope of Christian salvation.
This is not baptismal regeneration in the sense that the water mechanically produces new life regardless of any other factor. But it is also not "just a symbol" in the reductive modern sense. Baptism is where God makes a promise, and promises from God are not empty. The question of regeneration is best understood this way: God is not constrained by the sacrament, but He is present and active in it. For those who receive baptism in faith, or who are raised in the covenant community to embrace what their baptism signified, the promise is fulfilled.
On "The Age of Accountability"
The most common objection I hear to infant baptism comes from the idea that children must reach a point of moral and spiritual understanding before they can meaningfully receive a sacrament. This idea is well-intentioned. But it is not found in Scripture, and it does not have serious historical grounding.
What Scripture does say, in passage after passage, is that covenant membership extends to families. It says that children can be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb (Luke 1:15). It says that children of at least one believing parent are "holy" in a covenantal sense (1 Corinthians 7:14).
The "age of accountability" is largely a product of two things working together. The first is proof-texting, pulling passages that address adult converts and applying them as universal requirements without reckoning with the larger narrative of how God relates to his people across generations. The second is a deeply individualistic framework that many Western Christians absorb without realizing it. When faith is understood primarily as a personal, emotional decision that each person must arrive at on their own, infant baptism stops making sense almost by definition. The covenant logic of Scripture, in which God deals with families and communities across generations, simply does not fit inside that framework. The objection is not just a biblical argument. It is a collision between two different ways of imagining what it means to belong to God.
A Word on Rebaptism
Children who were baptized as infants and who later come to genuine, personal faith should not be rebaptized. Their baptism was real. What they are doing in coming to faith is not receiving something new; they are entering into what was always promised to them.
Likewise, if you are coming to The Mission Cincinnati from another tradition and were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that baptism is valid. I once had a parent tell me they were considering rebaptism because it seemed like a good idea, like renewing wedding vows. I told them, perhaps a little too bluntly, that it was more like asking to be circumcised again. The Book of Common Prayer has a better answer: a Renewal of Baptismal Vows on page 194, used at the Easter Vigil or on other appropriate occasions. This satisfies the desire without undermining the work of God in baptism.
Coming to the Font
If you are bringing your child to be baptized, you are bringing them into the covenant community, marking them with God's promise, and committing to raise them in the faith. That is no small thing. It is a serious and joyful act, and the church will celebrate it with you.
And to the rest of the congregation: when a child is baptized, they are baptized into your community too. Their formation in the faith is not only their family's responsibility. It is yours as well.
We look forward to welcoming your family at the font.
Holy Saturday Liturgy
This is available for all people at The Mission Cincinnati and does not require a priest. This can be done individually, with family, friends, or neighbors. Anyone may lead and read the lessons.
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Leader says: Let us pray.
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of thy dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lessons
If enough people are present, one reading can be assigned to each person. Each reading concludes with, “The Word of the Lord” answered by “Thanks be to God.”
Job 14:1-14 | Psalm 130 | 1 Peter 4:1-8 | Matthew 27:57-66
The Anthem
The following is then sung or said together
Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow,
and never continueth in one stay.
In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succor,
but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased?
Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty,
O holy and most merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.
Thou knowest, O Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer;
but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty,
O holy and merciful Savior, thou most worthy Judge eternal,
suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee.
The Lord’s Prayer
Prayed together:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Leader concludes:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.
Holy Week Schedule & Invitation
Dear Mission Family & Friends,
This Sunday, we begin Holy Week, the climax of the Christian year. During Sunday’s opening liturgy we will pray these words together as a congregation:
“Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
I have long been struck by the phrase “enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts by which you have given us life and immortality.
Holy Week has a lot of church services.
We will offer gatherings on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. The purpose of these gatherings is not to create religious busy work for everyone. It’s to make space to enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts by which Jesus has brought us life and immortality.
Each service of Holy Week is focused on things Jesus did during the last week of His pre-resurrection life. And these acts of Jesus are indeed MIGHTY. They are incredible to deeply consider! In this week, Jesus literally practiced what He preached His whole Earthly ministry. He loved us to the end, offered Himself as a living sacrifice so we might be saved. He embodied full humility and other-oriented service. He prayed for His followers and for the world. He remained faithful to God through suffering. At the end, He rose from the dead in history, victorious over sin, evil and death. On Easter He began a new creation Kingdom and made it possible for us to join Him in revealing that Kingdom’s shalom through our lives everywhere and all the time.
I invite you to approach Holy Week prayerfully. To consider structuring your days around the events of Jesus’s last week. I invite you to join us for our Holy Week services so that through these spaces you can come close to Jesus, remember all He’s done for you, contemplate the wonder of His final Earthly actions, and respond with joy and praise.
You can view our full service calendar below. If you plan to come to Maundy Thursday, please RSVP by no later than Wednesday 3/25 so we know the headcount for food. If you miss the sign up, you can still join us for the Tenebrae service in the sanctuary at 7 PM.
I am praying for us as a church this week: may we experience renewed joy in Christ and closeness with Him as we journey together in contemplation of those mighty acts by which Jesus has brought us life and immortality!
With love in Christ,
Fr. William
Church Planting Residency
The Mission Cincinnati is seeking a Church Planting Resident to help us plant our first daughter congregation in the greater Cincinnati area.
Nine years ago, The Mission began as a parachute plant in an under-resourced neighborhood of central Cincinnati. By God’s grace, we have grown into a healthy pastoral-sized Anglican congregation with more than one hundred regular Sunday worshipers, a generationally diverse membership, and a deep commitment to discipleship, sacramental life, and outward engagement in our city.
Now, with encouragement from our bishop and in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes, we are taking the next step.
Our vision is to raise up leaders from within our congregation and plant multiple healthy, pastoral-sized Anglican churches across Greater Cincinnati. Each congregation will recover a deeply place-based, incarnational ministry while maintaining strong collegial relationships and shared mission across parishes.
This residency is the first step toward that future.
The Opportunity
We are seeking a pioneering, relational leader who loves Jesus, loves the local church, and desires to see new congregations formed for the sake of the gospel.
The Church Planting Resident will serve on staff at The Mission Cincinnati for approximately two years, receiving hands-on formation in ministry systems, liturgical leadership, preaching, outreach, and team development. During this time, the Resident will gradually discern where in the city the Lord is leading them to plant and begin forming a launch team.
In the third year, the Resident will be sent out with financial partnership and practical support to establish a daughter congregation.
What We’re Looking For
We are prayerfully seeking someone who:
Has a vibrant and growing relationship with Jesus
Demonstrates godly character and spiritual maturity
Is ordained in the ACNA or pursuing ordination
Has meaningful full-time ministry experience
Is gifted in evangelism, leadership development, and team building
Loves people who do not yet know Christ
Is energized by place-based, incarnational ministry
This role requires strong communication skills, relational intelligence, disciplined work habits, and a willingness to embrace both vision casting and ordinary pastoral work.
A Three-Year Formation & Launch Path
Year 1: Integrate into the parish, learn the city, and serve in a variety of ministry contexts while beginning to lay groundwork for a future plant.
Year 2: Discern location, build a launch team, and transition ministry responsibilities in preparation for planting.
Year 3: Be commissioned and sent to begin public worship and congregational life as a daughter church.
We are not naming the specific neighborhood in advance, though the plant will be located outside the immediate footprint of our current parish. It may be in Northern Kentucky or in the northern suburbs, though final discernment will occur during the residency.
Application Process
Candidates will complete:
Initial conversation and interviews with parish leadership
Diocesan church planter assessment through the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes
Final discernment prior to beginning the residency
We are aiming to have this position filled in alignment with our current ministry calendar and planting timeline.
Learn More & Apply
For full details about the position, expectations, compensation structure, and qualifications, please review the Church Profile and Position Description below.
View Church Profile & Full Job Description
If you believe the Lord may be calling you to this work, we invite you to submit an application.
Holy Week Services 2026
Holy Week is the climax of the Christian year, when followers of Jesus are invited to enter with joyful contemplation of the mighty acts by which Jesus brought us salvation. You are warmly invited to join us for any and all of our Holy Week Service offerings. Full details on all Holy Week services below:
Maundy Thursday Dinner, Communion & Tenebrae Thursday, April 2nd 6-8 PM
REGISTRATION FOR 6 PM DINNER IS NOW CLOSED
ALL ARE WELCOME FOR 7 PM TENEBRAE SERVICE
We will gather for a community dinner of lamb and potatoes followed by a special shared communion and a Tenebrae service where we will read passages reflecting on the events of Maundy Thursday and Holy Week before we conclude with the stripping of the alter. This will be an embodied, sensory, beautiful, and powerful experience. No childcare will be provided but children are welcome to join for all!
Good Friday April 3rd 6:30 PM
Our most somber service of the year. Through prayer, music, a special dramatic reading, and a brief reflection, we will remember the events of Christ’s crucifixion. The sanctuary will remain open for silent prayer at viewing of the Stations of the Cross upon conclusion of the service.
Easter Sunday Sunday April 5th 8 AM & 10 AM
This year, we will celebrate the joy of Christ’s resurrection with 2 worship services.
8 AM - Join us for a stripped-down morning service at 8 AM featuring prayer book liturgy, simple music, an easter sermon, and communion. There are no Mission Kids or Nursery offerings at the 8 AM service. If you’re seeking a more quiet and reflective morning, this is the service for you!
10 AM - Our 10 AM service will feature a full band, Nursery, and Godly Play offering and more closely resemble our typical Easter Sunday service. The same message will be preached at both services.
Stations of the Cross
During Lent, our sanctuary seasonal artwork will be the 14 stations of the cross created by Benjamin Thomas who served on staff with us at the Mission from 2019 - 2021. These stations are partnered with a liturgy created by Rev. Kristen you can use to walk the stations on a prayerful journey of meditation on the sufferings of Jesus at any point you want during the season of Lent.
New Preaching Series Begins Feb. 1st
I’ve encountered all sorts of people throughout my now 20+ year journey of living as a Christian and then as a pastor. One thing I’ve seen over and over is that people don’t need to believe in God to be grateful to receive an offer of prayer.
Not every person on planet Earth prays. But the vast majority of the people I’ve met, regardless of what they believe have some sort of prayer practice, even if its just looking heavenward and shouting “help!” from their knees to an unknown Other in moments of crisis when the whole world feels like its crashing down. Many global faiths beyond Christianity have practices of prayer too.
I suspect this is because deep down its hard to ignore that there’s more to reality than just the material world we can see. The Scriptures make this point from their first words as Genesis 1 begins, “In the beginning GOD.” Not, in the beginning stuff. In the beginning…a spiritual presence. A world of spirit from which material existence emerged. The rest of the Story of the Bible goes on to show story after story of people engaging this spiritual world and spiritual presence of God. That presence becomes personalized in Israel’s God, Yahweh, and then takes on flesh in the Person of Jesus. Revelation, the last book in the Bible, tells us through the words of John of Patmos, that when we are struggling and suffering now, if we could pull back the veil separating the material world we can see from the spiritual world we can’t, what we would see in that spiritual world is JESUS: the Good Shepherd, the King of Kings, pursuing us with His love even now, contending for our best, desiring to draw us back into right relationship with Himself.
In the wake of school shootings and instances of racial violence in the public square over the past decade in America, there has been increasing rhetoric decrying the value of “thoughts and prayers.” It is of course important in the wake of these tragedies for followers of Jesus to move BEYOND simply thinking and praying and toward actions of change to enact greater justice and righteousness in our society. But “prayer” is only a problem here, if our conception of what prayer is, is simply a pious personal feel-good experience or a pattern of religious performance where we give lip service to caring for others, but do not genuinely draw them compassionately into our hearts and minds.
Prayer as the Scriptures understand it, on the other hand, is so much more! Prayer is the language of the Kingdom of God; the vehicle of intimacy and connection between us and our Creator. It was blessed by God with invitation and power to direct our cries to heaven’s ears. Prayer is not a pothole hotline where we call in our need and sit idly by while angels meet it. When we pray for things, our hearts by necessity get involved. We commune with Jesus and gain a better appreciation for what He desires to see happen in the world. He supplies us with power through His Holy Spirit to become agents of His heavenly action. Indeed, as has at times been said, “if you ask God to move a mountain, don’t be surprised if he asks you to pick up a shovel.”
The net net is the Christian must recognize that prayer is powerful because it connects us with the God who created all things, the God who is sovereign not only over the material world but also spiritual reality. We live in a world made up of more than just what we can see, and so, to fully and most appropriately navigate that world, we need spiritual tools as well as material ones. Prayer is thus God’s equipment He graciously gives us to engage Him and navigate life WITH Him, participating in His mission, righteousness, justice, and will.
And yet, prayer for most of us is not easy. Some of us have only been taught that prayer is one thing: asking God for stuff. Some of us have had wonderful seasons where our prayer life felt dynamic and God seemed close, yet currently we’re walking through a wilderness of dry prayer where God feels distant.
And so our church begins an 8-week preaching series entitled “Praying on the Way | Practicing Prayer with Jesus, Scripture, & The Church.” In this series, we will discover what Scripture says about the spiritual world, and learn about 7 different practices of prayer modeled by Jesus and demonstrated throughout the Scriptures, to equip us with tools to cultivate intimacy with God in every season of life—the good and the hard. These practices are Praise, Lament, Petition, Intercession, Thanksgiving, Confession, and Oblation. Each week, we’ll learn about a prayer practice, and DO it together during the prayers of the people. Then we’ll discuss more in weekly small groups. There will also be a beautiful devotional guide available during worship starting Sunday 2/1 so you can follow along throughout the series and dive deeper into your personal practice of each type of prayer throughout the week.
Our hope is that these weeks will broaden all of our understandings of what prayer is, that each of us will have new experiences of prayer, and that we will discover new tools and new language to connect with God and cultivate intimacy in our relationship with him both when things are good and when things are hard.
We’re excited to share this journey with you church. Come and invite your friends and families to join us Sundays Feb. 1st – March 22nd.
- Fr. William
Journey with us on your own or with a group using this beautiful “Praying on the Way Guidebook”!
Online Morning Prayer | 1.25.26
Leader: I will make you as a light for the nations
People: That my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 49:6
Leader: Let us confess our sins to Almighty God…
All: Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.
Leader: The Almighty and merciful Lord grant you absolution and remission of all your sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.
INVITATORY
Leader: O Lord, open our lips;
People: And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Leader O God, make speed to save us;
People O Lord, make haste to help us.
Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
People As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Officiant Praise the Lord.
People The Lord’s Name be praised.
JUBILATE – Psalm 100
O be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness,
and come before his presence with a song.
Be assured that the Lord, he is God;
it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise;
be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name.
For the Lord is gracious,
his mercy is everlasting,
and his truth endures from generation to generation.
PSALM READING
Psalm 139:1-18
Reader: 1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
All: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
THE LESSONS
Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 29:1-7
This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin[a] and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:
4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
Reader: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God!
New Testament Reading: Acts 17:16-28
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]
Reader: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God!
Gospel Reading: Matthew 9:35-38
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Reader: The Gospel of the Lord
People: Praise to You, Lord Christ.
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS (We Praise You Oh God)
All: We praise you, O God; we acclaim you as Lord;
all creation worships you, the Father everlasting.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
the cherubim and seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded, your true and only Son, worthy of all praise,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you took our flesh to set us free you humbly chose the Virgin’s womb.
You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come to be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting.
SERMON – Fr. William
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
All: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE PRAYERS
Reader: Lord in your mercy.
People: Hear our prayer!
GENERAL THANKSGIVING
All: Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world
by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts
we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness
all our days; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
Leader: Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time, with one accord to make our common supplications to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will grant their requests: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.
Officiant Let us bless the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
Leader: May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
North Stars Preaching Series | Sundays 1/11 - 1/25
On May 25th, 1961, U.S. president John F. Kennedy announced that America would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. What made this announcement so bold was that no one at the time actually knew HOW to put a man on the moon. What happened next, however was incredible! The articulation of a clear, bold, inspirational, yet measurable goal organized America’s energies and industry to not only achieve Kennedy’s vision, but produce tons of other technological breakthroughs to benefit society in the process including MRI & CAT scan technology, home insulation, kidney dialysis, increased computing power, and more. Kennedy’s “moonshot” was a sort of north star that guided and focused America’s shared efforts over the course of a decade to accomplish much more than scattered and un-organized efforts ever could.
The Mission Cincinnati was planted 9 years ago with a vision to become a church that would plant other churches throughout the greater Cincinnati area. About a year ago, our Vestry determined it was time for this vision to move from the backburner to the front-burner. In the Fall, we placed before the congregation a vision to collaborate with our diocese to bring on our first church planting resident in mid-2026 who would work on staff with us for 2 years and then plant our first daughter church in mid-late 2028. This vision for church planting is a “north star” for our church similar to Kennedy’s moonshot. The path toward church planting will be a patient one. We won’t attempt to do this tomorrow because we are not yet ready. There are still ways we need to learn, grow, and mature as a church to be ready to plant a daughter congregation healthily and wisely.
And so, over the next 3 Sundays we’ll engage texts of Scripture that help us revisit some of the key components of our church’s vision and mission. We will consider what it looks like to make Jesus and the Gospel central to our personal life and corporate life as a church. We’ll explore how we can continue to foster hospitable and safe ministry spaces where people can be welcomed, heal, and grow. And we’ll refresh our passion for missional engagement with the wider world outside the 4 walls of our local church.
These would be great Sundays to consider visiting The Mission if you’re new to our congregation, curious about us, or looking for a church home in Cincinnati. These are also great Sundays to invite others in your life who may be looking for a welcoming spiritual family to journey with. We can’t wait to share these next 3 Sundays together as we refocus on these “north stars” that will guide us in our pursuit of Jesus and our ongoing growth as God’s people in the year to come.
Bishop Nominations, ACNA Updates & Safeguarding Meeting
On Wednesday, January 21st, members of our clergy and vestry offered a space on Zoom to update our congregation on:
1) Our Diocese’s current search for our new bishop and how our church’s members can participate
2) A summary of the abuse allegations that have been brought forth against 4 different ACNA bishops over the past year.
3) A review of the proactive measures that are being taken at the provincial (national church), diocesan (regional), and local congregational level (The Mission) to improve safeguarding measures and better ensure the safety of every member who calls our church home.
We concluded our time with a space of prayer for survivors of abuse in the church, a renewal of the church’s purity, and fruitfulness in the church’s mission. The session was recorded for those who were not able to make it. You can view or listen to the full session recording using the links below:
Bishop Nominations
Our diocese has published a diocesan profile that provides criteria for what we are seeking in our next bishop. Any male priest over the age of 35 in any diocese of the ACNA is eligible to be nominated as bishop. Any clergy person resident in the Diocese of the Great Lakes as well as any confirmed member of an ADGL church (like The Mission Cincinnati) can nominate a candidate for bishop. If you are a confirmed member of our congregation, you are invited to prayerfully participate in the process. Your nominations of faithful, wise, and Christ-like leaders help ensure our diocese can select among a variety of wonderful people. Links to the bishop search page as well as a direct link to the nomination form are below. Questions? Please contact Rev. Kristen Yates at kristen@missioncincinnati.org as she is serving on the bishop’s search committee.
Additional Notes on Safeguarding
1) Title IV Revisions - During the meeting, we shared that the ACNA has been in process of updating, strengthening, and improving Title IV, the provincial canon that governs clergy and bishop discipline in the ACNA. In January, the College of Bishops voted to hold a special Provincial Assembly this coming June 25th for the purpose of approving the Title IV revisions. You can read the full letter from the College of Bishops HERE. Also, beginning Feb. 1st, the ACNA will open a 6-week window for public comment on the proposed revisions. There will also be a public “Town Hall” where you can learn more about the Title IV revision process and ask questions scheduled for Wednesday February 11th from 2-3:30 PM EST on Zoom. The link to register for the town hall has not been published yet, but we will add it on this page when it is available. All current info on Title IV revision process can be found HERE.
2) ADGL Misconduct Prevention & Reporting Page - Our diocese has created a Misconduct Prevention & Reporting Page by which any complaints of abuse against any clergy person can be directly reported to the diocese if you do not feel safe going through the standard process (of reporting non-Rector complaints to the Rector, and complaints about rector to the Vestry Sr. Warden). Full Details on our diocesan response team including the contact to submit any complaints can be found HERE. The ResponseTeam@adgl.us email address is overseen by Rev. Canon Carrie Klukas, a priest in Columbus OH, resident at St. Andrew’s Church.
3) Forthcoming Governance & Safeguarding Page - Finally, we shared our intention to publish a new page to our website by no later than March 1st 2026 that will include a direct public link to our church’s Code of Regulations, as well as our Abuse Prevention Policies. We will clearly outline how you can report abuse in our congregation if the situation arises (details of this are available in the session recording above). We will also detail how our clergy and staff have been trained to respond effectively and pastorally to any allegations of abuse.
We are hopeful that all of this information increases your confidence that The Mission Cincinnati is a church that takes the safety of every single one of our members from 0-100+ years of age seriously. We will continue to do all we can to promote safety, purity, health, and fruitfulness within our congregation. Should you have any further or future questions about safeguarding at The Mission, please reach out to Fr. William at william@missioncincinnati.org.
Special Children’s Communion Liturgy (2/1) & Teaching (1/25)
Receiving the Sacrament of Communion is a very special experience for those of us who are part of Christ’s body. This of course includes the children among us, and in the Anglican tradition, we believe that once a child has been baptized, that child can share in the Lord’s Table as soon as he or she is able to receive the Communion elements on one’s own. In our Tradition, we also have a liturgical tradition of “First Communion”, in which after receiving some teaching on the sacrament, a baptized child begins to receive communion.
Practically speaking, this belief and this liturgical tradition results into two different practices among our families. Some of our families prefer to have their children receive communion as soon as they are able. Others prefer to have their children wait until they are a little older and can learn about what communion means. Both practices are good, and we honor both.
So, with this in mind, on February 2nd, we are going to include a Children’s Communion Liturgy as part of our service. This liturgy will honor both those children who have been receiving Communion for some time now, as well as those children who will receive Communion for the first time that day. Prior to that day, Rev. Kristen and Christine Mitchell will offer up a special teaching on Communion during the Godly Explorer’s time on January 25th, and all children are welcome to come and learn about this special Sacrament. To help us know if your children will participate in this liturgy this day, please sign-up by clicking the sign-up button to the right.
Also, if you have any questions and/or would like to have a pastoral meeting with Rev. Kristen, reach out to her at kristen@missioncincinnati.org.
Sign-up Deadline: 1/18
Morning Prayer & Sermon Pictures | 12.14.25
Leader: Surely the Lord is coming soon
People: Amen, come, Lord Jesus!
Leader: Let us confess our sins to Almighty God…
All: Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.
Leader: The Almighty and merciful Lord grant you absolution and remission of all your sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.
INVITATORY
Leader: O Lord, open our lips;
People: And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Leader: O God, make speed to save us;
People: O Lord, make haste to help us.
Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
People: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Officiant: Praise the Lord.
People: The Lord’s Name be praised.
JUBILATE – Psalm 100
Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness,
and come before his presence with a song.
Be assured that the Lord, he is God;
it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise;
be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name.
For the Lord is gracious,
his mercy is everlasting,
and his truth endures from generation to generation.
PSALM READING | Psalm 146
All: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
THE LESSONS
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 35:1–10
Reader: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God!
New Testament Reading: James 5:7–20
Reader: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God!
Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:2–19
Reader: The Gospel of the Lord
People: Praise to You, Lord Christ.
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS (We Praise You O God)
All:
We praise you, O God;
we acclaim you as Lord;
all creation worships you, the Father everlasting.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
the cherubim and seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all praise,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you took our flesh to set us free
you humbly chose the Virgin’s womb.
You overcame the sting of death
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come to be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.
SERMON – Rev. Kristen
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
All:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE PRAYERS
Zoe’s Prayers of the People are led.
Reader: Lord in your mercy, we ask you to come.
Response: O Come, O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel!
Let us pray together…
All:
Almighty God bless us with Your grace;
Christ give us the joys of everlasting life;
And may the King of Angels bring us unto the fellowship of the citizens above.
All:
O Come, O come, Emmanuel
and ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lowly exile here
until the Son of God appears
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to Thee, O Israel!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to Thee, O Israel! (sung)
GENERAL THANKSGIVING
All:
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world
by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness
all our days; Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
Leader:
Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time, with one accord to make our common supplications to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will grant their requests: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.
Officiant: Let us bless the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
Leader: May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
Sermon: Colossians 4:2-18 from Rev. Mike Jorgensen
Hey all, pastor Mike here. Today’s sermon was not recorded so I’ve decided to post my outline for small groups to reference. I’ve tried my best to convert all of my notes to complete sentences so they are at least coherent!
Finally, I use footnotes in my outline which don’t work well in a blog so here are the commentators and authors quoted:
Richard R. Melick Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (The New American Commentary, Vol. 32)
Os Guinness Fool’s Talk
N.T. Wright Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary (Volume 12) (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries)
Simone Weil Letter to Joe Bousquet
Matthew Henry’s Commentary
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Intro: When Paul writes the Colossians, he’s been dismantling a dangerous idea—what scholars call the “Colossian heresy”—the belief that the gospel is Jesus + something else: Jesus + mystical visions, Jesus + strict rule-keeping, Jesus + elite spiritual knowledge.
We shake our heads at that. But the modern church faces its own “Jesus +” temptations:
Jesus + material blessing (prosperity gospel)
Jesus + national identity (Christian nationalism)
Jesus + perfect liturgy (high-church traditionalism)
Jesus + political alignment, + theological sophistication, etc.
Different packaging, same impulse: we assume Jesus is good… but not quite enough.
And this creates a second problem. When we hit Paul’s final chapter—full of commands on prayer, wisdom, and speech—we’re tempted to think he’s now switching teams. He’s spent three chapters saying, “Don’t add to Christ!” and suddenly it sounds like he’s piling on spiritual tasks.
But Paul isn’t contradicting himself. He’s showing us what it looks like when Christ is actually sufficient. Not Jesus + tasks… but Jesus → a transformed way of living.
Paul sees the Colossians and us the same way. We can be “in Christ” but spiritually distracted—present but not attentive. And that distraction keeps us from living the life Christ already secured for us. Paul’s final imperatives are a call to pay attention—to God, to the world, and to the people before us
FCF (fallen condition focus): We often treat prayer, conduct, and speech as extra religious tasks—things we add onto faith if we have time, energy, or interest. This leads us either to compartmentalize (private piety with no public expression) or to disconnect our spiritual lives from real opportunities around us. Like the Colossians, we’re tempted to think in terms of “Jesus + effort,” instead of seeing these practices as natural expressions of a life already rooted in Christ.
Big Idea: Because Christ is sufficient, His people must stay spiritually awake—integrating prayer, wisdom, and speech as a single way of being present to God and the world.
Main Point 1: Devoted Prayer is Alert, Not Vague and Inward (vv.2-3)
The translation you’re using may cause some confusion, but the imperative in this sentence is “devote yourselves.”
Many people read this verse as a command to pray, but “The term 'pray' is actually another participle modifying 'devote yourselves.”
Devote ourselves to what? Alert prayer IN (not and) thanksgiving is what that looks like.
For many of us—especially those who are skeptical or unsure where we stand—prayer feels like a vague spiritual practice, something reserved for more withdrawn or contemplative personalities rather than an engaged way of paying attention to the world.
Christian prayer, however, is outward-facing—an attentive posture toward what God is doing.
Paul’s emphasis isn’t on introspection but on scanning the horizon
The first characteristic of the type of prayer that Paul is prescribing is alertness/watchfulness. The term implies mental alertness.
“The Colossians were to pray with mental alertness. Presumably, this meant that they were to know the circumstances of life, particularly those which affected the spread of the gospel. Informed prayer is likely to be more purposeful, personal, and powerful.”
The second characteristic is “in thankfulness.” This is not a second category of prayer, but the posture with which we approach alert and present prayer.
Gratitude is what steadies our prayers. It keeps us from being overwhelmed by the difficulties in front of us and reminds us that God is still working. A thankful heart lets us face hard realities without losing joy.
The second petition occurs in v. 4: “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” Paul asked for the ability to walk through such doors as would open
E.g. High school student who asked me what it means to be saved. The door was open, but I still had to walk through it.
Many people pray by floating mentally, but Paul wants alert minds, grateful hearts, and missional reflexes.
Some of us are more disciplined in crafting our commentary for a social media post than petitioning God and being directed by God for action.
Applications: Pray with the news open, pray with a church directory and neighborhood crisis list, pray with names, not abstractions.
Main Point 2: Wise Conduct Provides Opportunity & Ability, Not Just Respectability (v.4-5)
Biblical wisdom isn’t cleverness; it’s skill in godly living. Why mention it here? Because wisdom is both the cure for false teaching and the foundation for credible witness.
“Blameless life lays the foundation for gracious witness.”
“Christian communication can become a closed circle, speaking only to itself, with all the answers to all the questions no one outside is asking.”
Wisdom bookends this letter: Paul prayed they would know wisdom (1:9), and now he calls them to live it.
As Os Guinness (Fools Talk) writes, Christian persuasion requires patient, fitting, and imaginative responses that take each person seriously. Wisdom finds the person behind the position. It’s not one-size-fits-all.
Philosopher Simone Weil wrote that, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
App→ Wisdom keeps you from winning arguments while losing people. Wisdom helps notice the ripeness of a moment.
It is vital that the church realize all of its opportunities to be in service to God and the world.
Main Point 3: Careful Communication Requires Tone and Truth, Not Just Content (v.6)
False dichotomy: commentators and preachers tend to emphasize one aspect of “careful communication” over another.
Emphasis on how it is sent: Some will emphasize logical and technical precision in wording so that we are always free from error and speak with accuracy. Yet they confuse accuracy with adequacy.
Emphasis on how it is received: Yet others will emphasize warmth, compassion, and empathy as the manner of speaking.
Paul allows for no such distinction and, in fact, emphasizes the necessity of both.
Two qualifiers for our speech: in grace and with salt.
“‘In grace’ may be used in its full Christian sense of God’s grace, in a generic sense of charming, or with a combination of both. The third option seems most likely.”
Salt made food good—preserving, cleansing, and seasoning. Paul means conversation that is lively, fitting, and life-giving.
Matthew Henry said our speech should be “savory and profitable.” That’s the idea: neither trivial nor harsh, neither flippant nor flat. Or as Os Guinness says, “Nothing is less attractive than the bored advocate of grace.”
App→ Pursue speech that is gracious, interesting, and true, with words rooted in the gospel and attentive to the person in front of you.
Conclusion: We are tempted to separate what Paul holds together:
Prayer without awareness becomes vague and inward.
Wisdom without prayer becomes strategic but soulless.
Speech without wisdom becomes precise but sterile; warmth without truth becomes kind but empty.
But Paul is not giving us “Jesus + prayer + wisdom + good communication.” He’s describing the life that flows from the Jesus who is already enough. The answer is not Jesus + something—it is Jesus Himself.
The incarnation is the perfect picture of alert presence, wise engagement, and gracious speech. In Jesus, we see God fully attentive to the world He came to save. And it is that same Jesus who enables us, by His Spirit, to live alertly, walk wisely, and speak graciously.
So Paul’s final commands are not a burdensome checklist. They’re an invitation to live the kind of life Christ has already opened to us—a life fully grounded in Him, fully present in the world, and fully awake to God’s mission.
Preparing For Advent | Calendar & Events
Advent is the Christian New Year, a season that emphasizes themes of longing, waiting, hope, and expectation. In Advent, we enter into the story of Israel’s prophets as they awaited Christ’s first coming into the world 2,000 years ago in the Bethlehem manger. We also join with Christians across the world and throughout history who have waited for Jesus’s return in His second coming where He will make all things new. Below is our full calendar of Advent events and devotional resources our church is offering to help you press into the spiritual significance of Advent and draw close to Jesus in this season.
Advent Calendar
Sunday Nov. 23rd | 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM - Greening of the Church (volunteers needed!)
Sunday Nov. 30th | 10 AM - First Sunday in Advent Worship Service - interview with special guest Maria Miroshnikova
Monday Dec. 1st | 6 PM - Advent Evening Prayer in the sanctuary
Saturday Dec. 6th | 9 AM - noon - Advent Selah & Christmas Around the World event
Sunday Dec. 7th | 10 AM - Second Sunday in Advent Worship Service
Monday Dec. 8th | 6 PM - Advent Evening Prayer in the sanctuary
Sunday Dec. 14th | 10 AM - Third Sunday in Advent Worship Service
Monday Dec. 15th | 6 PM - Advent Evening Prayer in the sanctuary
Sunday Dec. 21st | 10 AM - Fourth Sunday in Advent Worship Service
Monday Dec. 22nd | 6 PM - Advent Evening Prayer in the Sanctuary
Wednesday Dec. 24th | 3 PM - Christmas Eve Lessons & Carols Worship Service
Sundays in Advent
Advent is a great season to check out a service with us if you’ve never been to The Mission. We’ll sing songs full of longing and hope—both seasonal classics as well as other songs and hymns highlighting Advent themes. Our sermons will be based on lectionary passages. Each Sunday we’ll light a new candle on the Advent Wreath. We’ll also partner with local non-profit Oranto to purchase emergency medical supplies to send to Ukraine as well as Catholic Charities of SW OH to gather food items to support local refugee families.
Advent Selah & Christmas Around the World
Each Advent, the Mission Cincinnati makes space to pause (“selah”), slow down, contemplate the coming of Jesus, and enter into His presence. This year, we will also make space for our children to celebrate the season with some fun seasonal activities in a space we’re calling “Christmas Around the World.”
Family Advent Packs
It has become our tradition at Mission Cincinnati to share a Family Advent Pack with all households who have children 12 and under! These give parents and caregivers some special ways to enjoy the season with the children in their lives as we all await the arrival of Jesus, God with us! On Sunday November 16th or Sunday, November 23rd, please look for a bag with your family name on it in the hallway or see Christine Mitchell if you have interest in having one but there is not one marked with your name.
Advent Evening Prayer
Mondays in Advent | 6 PM | Church Sanctuary
Join Fr. William & Albert Gustafson to pray the Daily Office from the BCP and spend special spaces of time praying for Jesus to break into our world with peace in violence and warfare, hope in despair, joy in grief and sorrow, and love in division and hatred.
Advent Devotional Resources
Looking for spiritual practices and/or devotionals to help you draw closer to Jesus in this season and press into the spiritual themes of Advent? Check out this Advent resource guide curated by Rev. Kristen to help you find a practice that’s right for you individually or for your family collectively.
Christmas Eve Lessons & Carols
Wednesday 12/24 | 3 PM
Come celebrate with us as we conclude our Advent journey with a Christmas Eve celebration service of Lessons & Carols! This service will feature a journey through the narrative of Scripture from the creation to the arrival of humanity’s salvation in the Bethlehem manger. There will be readings, favorite Christmas carols, communion, candlelight, and prayer. Children are welcome in worship, and the service will be followed by a holiday cookie party in the lounge!
Pledgeship & Vestry Nomination Windows Open Nov. 5 - 19th
Our annual Pledgeship & Vestry Nomination Windows are now open and Pledges & Nominations for 2026 can be submitted now through Wednesday, November, 19th using the online giving portals linked below:
Any member of the church who has completed Pathways and officially joined the fellowship in worship can make a nomination. Anyone who regularly attends The Mission is invited to submit a pledge. You can read a full explanation of both processes using the links below:
If you have questions about Nominations, please contact our Vestry Peoples’ Warden, David Nguyen at dnguyen106@gmail.com.
If you have questions about Pledgeship, please contact our Vestry Treasurer Nathan Nichols at nnicho001@gmail.com. Nathan’s family is about to have a baby, so if Nathan is unavailable, you can also reach out to our Treasurer-Elect Albert Gustafson at albert.gustafson@gmail.com.
Please pray this collect for the mission of the church from the 2019 BCP with us as we engage these processes together:
O God, our heavenly Father, you manifested your love by sending your only begotten Son into the world, that all might live through Him: Pour out your Spirit on your Church, that we may fulfill His command to preach the Gospel to all people. Send forth laborers into your harvest; defend them in all dangers and temptations; and hasten the time when the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in, and faithful Israel shall be saved; through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Advent Selah & Christmas Around the World
December is one of the busiest seasons of the year. In our hurriedness, we can miss out on the Advent invitation to sit with our laments and longings as we wait for the Messiah to come and make all things new. As such, each Advent, the Mission Cincinnati makes space to pause (“selah”), slow down, contemplate the coming of Jesus, and enter into His presence. This year, we will also make space for our children to celebrate the season with some fun seasonal activities in a space we’re calling “Christmas Around the World.”
Saturday, December 6th
Program from 9 AM - 11 AM | Lunch from 11 AM - noon
Selah
Our Selah team (Rev. Kristen, Brian Gardner, Jamie Noyd, Rebekah Edwards, and Jenna Yeager) guide us in several prayer practices that will help us press into the season of Advent. As this day also happens to be St. Nicholas day, we’ll spend some time thinking about how the gift of Jesus in our lives inspires us to respond in thankfulness and with gift-giving as we anticipate Jesus’ return and new creation. We’ll also have some time to enjoy some quiet, contemplative music.
Christmas Around the World
While parents are enjoying the Advent Selah in the sanctuary, children ages 4+ will have a Christmas Around the World Party in the Godly Play Room. We’ll spend some time finding out how children around the world celebrate this special time of year welcoming Jesus to earth. We will look at Nativity sets and art from around the world, listen to international Christmas music, share cookies you baked, and engage in fun Christmas activities like breaking a pinata and making a Ukrainian craft. You will not want to miss this fun party with your Mission friends!
NOTE: When you sign up your family for the Selah, you can say what country you would like to bring a treat from or Ms. Christine will contact you and assign a country and share a kid-friendly cookie recipe for you to bake and bring. If you are a family with food allergies, we would love for you to bring an allergy-friendly recipe to be shared which also makes it safe for your child.
Finally, as Dec. 6th is St. Nicholas day, we will talk about generosity and in the tradition of Iceland, we will do a book exchange. Please wrap a book (keep it under $5 or make it used) and we will do a book exchange grab bag. You can do one book per family or one book per child in your family--your choice!
Nursery
We will be providing nursery care for those children not quite ready for the structure of the Christmas Around the World Party. We suggest ages 3 & younger but there is flexibility so please contact Christine Mitchell at christine@missioncincinnati.org to discuss or with questions.
Brunch Together
After the various morning programs, we will all join together for a festive brunch from 11 AM- noon in either the lounge or downstairs in the fellowship hall depending on total numbers.
Click the button below to register. Please register by November 28th, so we can plan for numbers and have enough food for you all.
Come Join Us for our Annual Friendsgiving Celebration!
WHEN? Saturday, November 22nd | 4-6 PM
WHERE? The Mission Cincinnati (2221 Slane Ave. 45212) downstairs in the fellowship hall
WHAT? A laid-back evening of food, fun, and fellowship. Indoor dinner followed by outdoor bonfire & s’more roasting (weather-permitting)
WHO? Mission Cincinnati family & friends! This is an open event so all are welcome & spread the word!
Every November, we invite the whole church to come out for a laid-back, fun evening of food and fellowship, seasonal-poluck-style! We’ll gather from 4-6 PM on Saturday, November 22nd in the downstairs fellowship hall at the church. There will be tables where you can drop of drinks, seasonal aps, mains, and sides, and desserts. We’ll share dinner together and then (weather-permitting) head outside to enjoy a bonfire with s’more roasting. There will also be a special “kids table” with coloring pages and stickers.
This is a GREAT event to invite family and friends to join! All are welcome.
Please RSVP using the link below to let us know you are coming and what dish you plan to bring and share.
We can’t wait to share this wonderful evening with you! Questions? Contact Fr. William at william@missioncincinnati.org.
The Heart Behind our Fall Colossians Preaching Series
My wife Savannah and I will celebrate 11 years of marriage on October 4th.
In those 11 years, we’ve moved twice, lived in 2 different states, planted a church, had 3 children, and worked at least 4 different jobs collectively. The warp and woof of daily life has brought with it tons of seasonal stressors and all sorts of urgent projects, people, and needs that vie for our minds’ attention and our hearts’ affection.
With everything that comes at us, it’s been essential to find times and places to reconnect with each other, remember who we are and why we fell in love with each other in the first place. And then from that remembered reconnection to turn our eyes outward to consider how best we can live and steward our days in the season to come.
Our faith in Jesus is like a marriage.
When we first come to Christ, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with feelings of love for our Savior who (as Paul writes in Colossians) has just “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.”
Given our first experience of God’s love for us in Jesus, and our fresh experience of Jesus’s rescue in our lives, it’s easy for us to passionately affirm that ALL of our hope is in Jesus and that all of our lives are built exclusively on the foundation of Christ and Christ alone.
But then tragedy strikes.
A loved one unexpectedly dies. A marriage ends. A friend betrays us. We lose our job. We contract a chronic illness. A child is stillborn. The world is wracked in war. Horrific acts of violence fill up the news headlines.
We feel we live in a world where people are figuratively and literally at each others’ throats. We try to pray and it’s hard to tell if God is listening. We start to wonder how secure that foundation of Christ really is. Maybe we need Jesus PLUS something else… or maybe something else entirely. Our hearts drift. We begin to shift our ultimate trust to something material, secular, or human.
And when this drift of love and shift of hope happens, we in our lives of faith need intentional spaces to reconnect with Jesus and remember why it was we started following Him in the first place.
Over the next 8 Sundays, we will study the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Colossians is a powerfully encouraging letter. It has a lot to say about our identity as Christ followers and what it looks like to live a life built exclusively on Jesus.
But Colossians’ main focus is Jesus Himself! The letter is ALL about Christ and showing Christ’s centrality to and sufficiency in all things.
It is also a letter that celebrates the Gospel. Not as ideas or information or a tract, but as NEWS. Good news about the glory of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote this letter to the Colossian Christians to encourage them and remind them of the most important stuff in the life of faith.
And to us, Colossians is an opportunity to reconnect with Jesus, to remember the Gospel, and to rejoice again in all the reasons we started loving and following Jesus in the first place.
Whether you’ve been a Christian for decades or whether you’re exploring what Christianity is for the first time, I invite you to join us for this 8-week journey as we rediscover Jesus and rebuild our lives together on Christ and Christ alone.
Fr. William
An Invitation to Baptism
Baptism is one of the 2 sacraments we recognize as Anglican Christians.
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commanded His first followers to go into all nations baptizing people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ever since, baptism has been recognized by Christians everywhere as the rite of entry into the family of God’s people. It is an outward and visible sign we receive alongside the invisible and spiritual grace of God’s salvation within us.
In the New Testament and throughout history, Christians have also practiced both believers’ baptism (where the invisible saving faith happens FIRST with baptism following) as well as infant baptism (where the visible water baptism of a child of Christian parents who promise along with the whole congregation to raise the child in the faith happens first with saving faith following at a later age). In both believers’ as well as infant baptism, Anglican Christians celebrate the saving grace of God in Christ at work in His people through the Holy Spirit.
At The Mission, we invite everyone to profess faith in Jesus and to receive the sacrament of baptism.
Currently, we offer baptism 2 times/year in worship on a Sunday morning. Our next opportunity to receive baptism is coming up on Sunday, November 2nd. We recognize and practice BOTH believers’ as well as infant baptism at The Mission.
If you are interested in being baptized or if you’re interested in your child or children receiving baptism, please sign up using the link below by Sunday, October 12th. Upon receiving your sign up, one of our pastors will reach out to you to help prepare you or you kid(s) for baptism.
Have questions about baptism? You can reach out to either Fr. William (william@missioncincinnati.org) or Rev. Kristen (kristen@missioncincinnati.org).
If infant baptism is new to you, here is a really helpful article from Anglican Compass explaining “Why Do We Baptize Babies if They Cannot Make a Profession of Faith?”
Praying for Mission’s New Wineskins Team
Did you know that the Mission Cincinnati is part of a global body of Anglican believers? Well, we are, and next week a team from the Mission will be heading down to North Carolina to gather with 1000s of Anglican believers from around the U.S. and the world for the New Wineskins Mission Conference, a gathering that has been happening for over 30 years and has included attendees from over 60 nations.
The purpose of these gatherings is to form networks of awareness, care, prayer, and mobilization as we learn how Anglican Christians are living out the Great Commission in word and deed around the world. Topics for the week could include anything from reaching our communities through the arts, inner healing, sharing the Gospel with unreached people groups, creation-care, relief and development, and more.
Now, this will be the first time that the Mission Cincinnati is sending a group to this conference, and it is our hope that our team, which consists of Rev. Kristen, Arian Armstrong, and Erin Smith, will build and strengthen relationships with folks from all around our Province and the word. We also hope that it will help our church discern a future partnership with a church or diocese from another nation.
Please be in prayer for our team as we travel back and forth and as we gather with folks at the conference. To find out more about New Wineskins, click on the link below.
The Heart Behind September’s Sermon Series
“What’s an Anglican?”
I’ve heard this question a lot since becoming an Anglican priest. Despite being the 3rd largest body of Christians internationally with more than 80 million members scattered across 100+ countries, the word Anglican and the spirituality it represents is not well-known in 21st century America.
To be fair, Anglicanism wasn’t on my radar screen when I started following Jesus either.
I came to Christ in a Presbyterian church in Atlanta, then had a baptism of the Holy Spirit experience in college and didn’t know where I fit. In seminary, I fell in love with the Christian mystic tradition: the writings of the Desert Mothers & Fathers, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and more contemporary writers like Henri Nouwen. Like many millennial Christians, I felt like an ecclesiastical mut. I had a lot of passion for Jesus, but didn’t know where to locate that passion on the North American Church map.
Where did I fit in? My sense is that I’m not alone in asking that question.
It seems many people are looking for a spiritual home within the American Church right now. Some of us grew up in Catholic schools or going to mass, but were never given an explanation of the “whys” of belief behind the “whats” of religious action. Others of us have long existed in big-box, non-denominational evangelical spaces and are looking for a space with clearer theological convictions or more visible roots within the big tent of Christianity. Some of us have experienced spiritual abuse, and are searching for safety. Others want to hold on to a more pure Christian faith while shirking the ugly trappings of Christian nationalism. In short, many of us are asking the same questions of Israel’s Psalmists in our Old Testament, “where can we go to meet with God?”
I don’t believe Anglicanism is the BEST way to be Christian. But its a very helpful and life-giving way for ME to be a Christian.
When I discovered the Anglican Church, I realized it made space for all the disparate parts of my spiritual journey I wanted to hold together. Anglicans valued the same love for Scripture and prayer I developed through coming of age in Presbyterianism. Anglicans valued the Holy Spirit in worship and daily living that had made God feel so real and present to me while visiting and serving in Charismatic & Pentecostal churches in college and seminary. Anglicans were rooted in the ancient sacramental life of the church in a way that safe-guarded weekly worship and visibly connected me to Christians across the world and throughout history all the way back to the original disciples of Jesus.
Now that I’ve pastored as an Anglican priest for more than a decade, I’ve watched Anglicanism become home for many others too. The rootedness of the tradition provides pastoral safety and theological clarity. The balanced spirituality that draws from the mystic tradition while remaining open to contemporary movements of the spirit fosters a vibrant prayer life and rich disciple-making soil. The attentiveness to the Scriptures, prayer, and sharing one’s faith promotes missional engagement and champions a growing love for Jesus and relationship with Him as central to all we do.
I know people are looking for many of these things, but many people don’t know they could find them in a church that is Anglican. I’d like to help people discover a home within the Anglican Church that may be exactly the space they’ve been seeking.
So this September, we’ll be preaching a 3-week series explaining what have been called the “3 Streams” of Anglican spirituality: Scripture, Spirit, and the Sacrament. We’ll talk about how we value each of these things as an Anglican Church, but also how we bring all 3 together in our individual faith journeys and corporate life. Finally, we’ll discover how merging Scripture, Spirit, and Sacrament promotes a faith expression that breathes in through discipleship, and breathes out through mission. We are rooted in Christ but always for the sake of others.
Whether you’ve been with us at The Mission for years or whether you’re brand new to Christianity or Anglicanism, I’d love to invite you to join us Sundays September 7th – 21st as we explore the 3 Streams of Anglicanism together!
Grace, peace, and blessings in Christ,
Fr. William